1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates primarily to the field of hardware, and in particular to a module insertion tool.
Portions of the disclosure of this patent document contain material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office file or records, but otherwise reserves all rights whatsoever.
2. Background Art
A module has several hardware components connected together in order to create a computer system. Some of the hardware components that need to be connected on a module include a central processing unit (CPU), a static random access memory (SRAM or RAM), and a casing that will connect the module to a motherboard. Usually, most of the hardware components are easy to attach or group together on a module without restriction to their layout. But the module has to be precisely aligned onto the motherboard in order for the computer system to work correctly, and achieving this precise alignment has its own specialized draw-backs which have yet to be overcome.
Incorrect alignment of the module may result in system failure, for example, due to burnt motherboards. An incorrect alignment of the module may result in grounding of a component pin which may cause short circuit in the motherboard when powered. Another outcome of incorrect alignment may result in bent component pins. Yet another outcome may result in cracked fabricators. An incorrect alignment may result in an uneven weight distribution of the module on the motherboard, which may result in cracking of the fabricator.
This loss of material may be extremely costly, especially for a fabrication plant that produces these computer systems in large volumes. If the incorrect alignment of the module does not result in burnt motherboards, bent component pins, or cracked fabricators, to name a few, then there is a loss of man-hours spent in fixing the incorrect alignment of the module since these modules are mounted onto the motherboards with human input. Some of the commercially available desktop modules include the 600/750/900 MHz UltraSPARC-III(trademark) CPU modules made by Sun Microsystems, Inc., where the speed of the CPU is used to categorize the desktop module. One such desktop module, and the present system fabrication problems using this desktop module as an example are discussed in further detail below.
Desktop Module
A desktop module is illustrated in FIG. 1. The desktop module has two drivers 100 shrouded on either side of the module, that are used to anchor the module to a motherboard. These drivers are housed in connectors 110 also called captive screws. A surface mount matched impedance connector, or MICTOR, is one such connector used to anchor the module to a motherboard. The present design of the desktop module, and the attached drivers in the connectors require a precise quarter turn to each of the pre-set torque drivers in succession to ensure the module is inserted on the motherboard as parallel as possible.
The requirement of having the desktop module precisely parallel to the motherboard is critical in ensuring that each pin of every component on the module has mated correctly with its counterpart on the motherboard. Since the requirement of having the desktop module precisely parallel is performed by a human operator, it can be a time consuming task to accomplish, especially since many desktop module are bulky and heavy. Even if the desktop module is mounted on the motherboard with utmost care, it may still result in a low accuracy of the installation because currently there are no mechanical tools to help in aligning the module perfectly parallel to the motherboard. Parallelism is eyeballed by a human operator.
Furthermore, since the task of aligning the desktop module parallel to the motherboard is done manually, there can be a faulty installation of the desktop module resulting in bent component pins, cracked fabricators, burnt modules, connectors, and motherboards. Moreover, there may be several different groups of human operators that mount one or more desktop modules on a motherboard (some system designs warrant multiple modules per motherboard), or group other components together at the system level. There may be some individuals in the group that do not follow the stringent requirement of alternately turning each of the drivers in the connectors by a precise quarter turn, or there may be other time constraints like deadlines that result in faulty and incorrect mounting of the desktop module onto the motherboard. These are some of the reasons that eventually result in an unrecoverable loss of both man-hours and material.
The present invention is a module insertion tool. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the module is a desktop module. According to another embodiment of the present invention, there are two drivers on either side of the module insertion tool that operate independently of each other. According to another embodiment of the present invention, these drivers are used to anchor the module to a motherboard. According to another embodiment of the present invention, each driver has a slip coupling disk connected by a chain that ends in a plastic knob. By rotating the plastic knob, both the drivers independently turn in the direction of the rotation.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is a preset torque on the drivers, which are user dependent. In other words, the torque value has to be inputted manually, but can be changed for different situations and designs of the module and motherboard. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the drivers will turn until the preset torque value on the drivers is met. Since the drivers are independent of each other, each driver will stop turning when the preset torque value on its end is reached.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, there are three locators on a bottom plate of the module insertion tool that help in the alignment of the module. According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is a locking pin on each of the two drivers that help in securing the module to the motherboard. According to another embodiment of the present invention, a gear holder helps in controlling the tension in the chain. According to another embodiment of the present invention, a socket attached to the knob allows a user to connect an electrically powered driver. This driver aids in accelerating the process time needed to mount the module onto the motherboard.